Journey to Wholeness through the Alchemical Colors Black, White and Red in Dreams and Sandplay

The ancient alchemists’ quest to transform base metals such as lead into gold unfolded in generally agreed-upon color-stages, from black (the nigredo), to white (the albedo) to red (the rubedo). Today we understand these color stages, as described by C.G. Jung and others, as the process of transformation in the human psyche—empirically validated in a doctoral thesis by the sequence of colors emerging in Dr. Ehlers’ dreams over a 15-year period (Ehlers,1992).

The first half of the program will be devote to an exploration of the psychological meaning of the color-stages, illustrated with images from art.  We then move in depth to the significance of the albedo and the rubedo as a complementary pair in the psyche, representing archetypal feminine and masculine energies, with corroboration for these opposites as a pair found not only in cross-cultural color symbol-systems worldwide and across time but also in contemporary studies of the neuroanatomy of the human brain. We will discuss the challenges we and our clients face in balancing these two energies in our daily lives.

In the second half of the program, we will focus on these colors in the sandplay of a deeply wounded woman, on her transformational 22-year journey from addiction and the self-destructive behavior of her past to a radiant new life.

Learning Objectives
This course is intended to help you:

1. List the three alchemical colors.
2. Describe the psychological meaning of each of the three alchemical colors.
3. Define the coniunctio, or psychological wholeness, in terms of the alchemical colors.
4. Give an example of how you might balance your own masculine and feminine energies.
5. Discuss three ways the nigredo might appear in a sand tray.
6. Describe two ways the albedo might appear in a sand tray.

Suggested Readings

• Friedman, H. and R. Rogers Mitchell (2004). Sandplay: Past, Present, and Future (Routledge)
• Kalff, D. Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche (Analytical Psychology Press) 1980/2020.
• Weinrib, E. Images of the Self (1980) 2^nd Ed (Temenos Press)
• What is Sandplay therapy?: https://www.sandplay.org/about-sandplay/what-is-sandplay/

Presenters

Lynne L. Ehlers, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and teaching member (CST-T) of Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST). She has worked with her dreams since childhood and began a ten-year personal sandplay process in 1977. She has served on the faculty of the Dream Studies Program, as adjunct faculty in the Sandplay Studies Program at John F. Kennedy University and as guest lecturer, visiting scholar, and associate professor at Sonoma State University. She has presented papers at dream conferences sponsored by the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), and biennially at both national and international sandplay conferences since 2009. She is the author of Alchemy and Individuation: The Colors of Transformation, Analytical Psychology Press, 2022. Her many articles have appeared in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, and “The Tao of Sandplay Therapy” appears as a chapter in Into the Heart of Sandplay, edited by Dyane N. Sherwood and Betty C. Jackson (Sandplay Editions 2018). Dr. Ehlers offers sandplay, dreamwork, case consultation, and Jungian-oriented depth psychotherapy to adults in Albany, California.

Dyane N. Sherwood, PhD, did her own sandplay process in the mid-1980s and has been using sandplay with adults and children for nearly 40 years. She offers sandplay process in her office in Evanston, Illinois, and she teaches and consults internationally. She is an Analyst Member, Teaching Faculty, and immediate Past President of the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Dr. Sherwood is certified as both an Adult and Child Jungian Analyst by the International Association of Analytical Psychology and is a Teaching Member of the Sandplay Therapists of America/International Society for Sandplay Therapy. Dr. Sherwood is the Editor and Publisher of Analytical Psychology Press (analyticalpsychologypress.com), which has published books on Sandplay, including a new edition (2020) of Dora Kalff’s foundational book, originally published in 1980. Her practice website, where you can find copies of her articles, is dyanensherwood.com.

References

• Bradway, K. (n.d.). “Sandplay Bridges and the Transcendent Function. San Francisco: Jung Inst.
• Eastwood, P. (2002). Nine Windows to Wholeness: Exploring Numbers in Sandplay Therapy. Honolulu: Sanity Press. 156; 100-118.
• Ehlers, L.L. (1992). The Alchemical Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas & Rubedo; Stages of Transformation: A Case Study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).
• Ehlers, L. (2000). “Kali”. Journal of Sandplay Therapy (9:1), 67-78.
• Ehlers, L. (2011). “The Sacred Scarab”. Journal of Sandplay Therapy 20;2, 85-94.
• Ehlers, L. (2022). Alchemy and Individuation: The Colors of Transformation. Oberlin, OH: Analytical Psychology Press.
• Edinger E.F. (1985). Anatomy of the Psyche. La Salle, IL: Open Court. 152.
• Eliade, M. (1956/1978). The Forge and the Crucible. Chicago, IL: U. of Chicago Press. 99
• Fox, M. (1987). Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Bear & Co.
• Harlow, H. (1958) “The Nature of Love” American Psychologist 13:12. p. 673-685
• Henderson, J. (1982). “Shadow and Self.” Lecture at the San Francisco Jung Institute.
• Hillman, J. (1991). “The Yellowing of the Work”. Proceedings of the 11th International Congress for Analytical Psychology. Paris, 1989, (pp. 77-96). Einsedeln, Switzerland: Daimon-Verlag.
• Hitchcock, E.A. (1857). Alchemy and the Alchemists.  p. 225
• Jung, C.G. Collected Works: Aion (9, ii); Psychology & Alchemy (v.12); Alchemical Studies (v.13); Mysterium Coniunctionis (v.14). Routledge & Kegan Paul; Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press.
• Jung, C.G.  “The Process of Individuation”: Alchemy I, vol.7, ETH Lectures.  Notes on a Series of Unpublished Lectures at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich. Nov-Feb 1940- 41 (Privately printed, l960) pp. 74-75.
• Kalsched, D. (1996). The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit. New York: Routledge.
• London, J.  To Build a Fire and Other Stories. pp. 14-15.
• Martin, S. (1989). “Anger as Inner Transformation.” Quadrant 19:1. [Nigredo: 40-41; Albedo: 42; Rubedo: 44].
• Neumann, E. (1954a). “On the Moon and Matriarchal Consciousness” Spring. 83-100.  [Also in McGuire (1977), 228.]
• Ornstein, R. (1972). The Psychology of Consciousness. San Francisco, Freeman. 67. Pordage, J.  (17th c).  Donum Dei.
• P’u Ming (1609/1987) P’u Ming’s Oxherding Pictures & Verses. Translated by Red Pine. Port Townsend, WA: Empty Bowl.
• Taylor, J. B. (2006). My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey.  New York: Penguin Group.
• Tarnas, R. (March 2009) Public lecture, Sonoma State University, CA
• von Franz, M-L. (1972). The Feminine in Fairy Tales. Irving, TX: Spring Publications. 64
• von Franz, M-L. (1980).  Alchemy. Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books.